A group of naturalists were researching in the barest Australian desert when they came upon a tree so rare that the species was thought extinct, with a local resting under the shade of its branches.

"Do you know what that is?" one of the scientists excitedly asked. "Sure do, mate," came the reply. "That's a tree."

A bit like last week's growth figures from the Central Statistics Office. A few years ago, when output was plunging by 5pc, and its value by 7pc, Irish growth looked extinct. Yet here it is, the best in western Europe in 2012.

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